Column Addition vs Reading for Details I
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Column Addition
This educational app teaches and reinforces the column addition method with an interactive interface. Users can solve custom or random problems with adjustable number sizes and receive visual feedback on their progress. It includes optional jigsaw puzzles as a reward for solving problems.
- Interactive column addition learning
- Customizable number of digits
- Random and custom problem generation
- Visual feedback and animations
- Optional jigsaw puzzles
- Adjustable interface colors and animations
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Column Addition helps students learn and practice the column addition method step by step. The app aligns the numbers automatically so students can focus on solving each column. Carrying is handled visually with animations, helping students understand how digits move from one column to the next. Students can solve randomly generated problems or enter their own addition problems. The number of digits can be adjusted, making the app useful for different skill levels. Column addition is also known as columnar addition, long addition, or longhand addition. Features: - Add 2 or 3 numbers - Each number can have 1–5 digits - Randomly generated or manually entered problems - Automatic number alignment - Visual animated carrying - Current operation for each column can be hidden - Operands of the current operation can be highlighted - Customizable interface colors - Adjustable animation speed - Different interfaces for iPhone and iPad - 25 six-piece animal jigsaw puzzles - Puzzle feature can be turned on or off Reviews and Endorsements: Fun Educational Apps: “iDevBooks educational math apps make math enjoyable and entertaining. One of my sons was struggling with math and I must say the use of iDevBooks math apps has really helped him.” Professor Tim Pelton reviewed the sister app Column Subtraction: “Because no wrong entries are allowed the app provides a passive form of positive reinforcement and your child will likely improve in both confidence and competence with respect to the procedure.” Teacher endorsement: “The Math apps by Esa Helttula allow students to practice and reinforce the specific computation strategies taught in class, with as much or as little scaffolding as necessary. They also provide individualized feedback to each student, with an immediacy that is not always possible through pencil and paper practice.” — Rita Zeni, Ecole Sandy Hill Elementary, Abbotsford, BC, Canada Other iDevBooks Math Apps: Other iDevBooks math apps include Column Subtraction, Long Multiplication, Long Division, Lattice Multiplication, Visual Multiplication Table, Fraction Math, Partial Differences Subtraction, Partial Quotients Division, Partial Sums Addition, Decimal Rounding, and more. Feedback: New ideas to make this app better are welcome. Please visit idevbooks.com to give feedback. Privacy: This app has no ads, no in-app purchases, and does not transmit user data during operation. The app also does not contain links to other apps or to the web.
Reading for Details I
This app offers 26 short stories designed to improve reading comprehension for 1st-3rd graders. It focuses on recalling details, identifying the main idea, and making inferences, with explanations for each answer.
- 26 adventure and nature stories
- Detail recall practice
- Main idea identification
- Inference skills development
- Detailed answer explanations
- Open-ended discussion questions
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This app has 26 stories about adventures, activities, nature, and human interests. All require careful reading to comprehend and recall details in order to answer the comprehension questions that follow. The student is asked to determine the main idea of the story, answer some questions that rely on details in the story, and make an inference that is supported by the details. Each question has a written explanation as to why the correct answer is correct and the other answers are incorrect. At the end of the question section of each story, there is an open-ended question for discussion. The Reading for Details series of apps were designed for individuals who need extra practice with reading comprehension. Their focus is on learning how to recall specific details of the stories. They are also appropriate for children and adults with traumatic brain injuries or stroke. Ideally, the student will work with a parent, teacher, or therapist while using the app. The mentor can guide the student’s reading strategies while using the app as a source of stories and questions. Reading for Details: Stories for Early Reading is the simplest of the series. The vocabulary and sentence structure are appropriate for early readers or children who are having difficulty with complex stories. Reading for Details I has short sentences with words that are are appropriate for 1st—3rd grade readers. Paragraphs are usually short. Sentence structure is simple and information is directly stated. Stories generally have between 350 and 400 words. Reading for Details II has stories written by authors from around the world and a vocabulary that should be familiar to 4th—6th grade students. Words and idiomatic phrases from other cultures are often used and defined in the stories. This adds an element of cultural diversity and allows the reader to see events from another's perspective. Reading Strategy: As the students read the stories, they should focus on the details of the story. At the end of the story, they should pause and decide what the story was mostly about. The first question asks them to identify the main idea of the story. Then there are two questions about details in the story. These are often of the form, How Many, Who, Which, or Where. There are no trick questions in the app but sometimes the answers contain details from the story that are not relevant to the question. These foils are intentionally placed to make sure the reader is reading for information and not just using recognition memory to answer the question. Students often get a question wrong because they focus on a specific detail. Sometimes they recognize words or numbers in the answers and choose an answer because the words are familiar. A popup explains why incorrect answers may appear to be correct. It also explains why the correct answer is, in fact, the right choice. After the student studies the explanation, they should read the question again and answer it using the knowledge gained from the explanation. They can swipe back to the story, reread it, and look for the answer. An option lets them choose to see the explanations after each answer, rather than just after incorrect answers. The last question requires that the student make inferences about the characters in the story. Based on the details and overall theme of the story, the student is asked to guess which of four statements is likely to be true. After the student answers, a popup explains why one answer is probably correct and the others are not as likely to be correct. Like the other questions, one answer is usually obviously incorrect. Two answers usually have have details from the story but are less likely to be true. The stories can be read in any order, but we have provided a default order based on complexity, vocabulary, and number of details. The app scores correct and incorrect answers and keeps track of the questions that were answered incorrectly. Results can be emailed or downloaded using iTunes.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Column Addition at 3.0 against Reading for Details I's 1.0. Column Addition also leads on update cadence (every 8 months vs every 25 months). Reading for Details I's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 17.6). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Column Addition costs $3.99 and Reading for Details I $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Column Addition holds the better App Store score, 3.0 against 1.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
Column Addition ships an update every 8 months, Reading for Details I every 25 months. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Column Addition | Reading for Details I |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | $3.99 |
| Rating | 3.0 (1 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 86.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months — better | Every 25 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Esa Helttula | Learning Fundamentals, Inc. |
Customer experience
Column Addition
Reading for Details I
In-app purchases
Column Addition
No in-app purchases
Reading for Details I
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Column Addition free?
Is Reading for Details I free?
Which has better reviews, Column Addition or Reading for Details I?
Do Column Addition or Reading for Details I have ads?
Which is updated more often, Column Addition or Reading for Details I?
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